David Orazietti

David Michael Orazietti (born November 12, 1968) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the riding of Sault Ste. Marie for the Ontario Liberal Party.

Background

Orazietti is a third-generation resident of Sault Ste. Marie. Before being elected the MPP for Sault Ste. Marie, he served as a City Councillor and worked as a teacher for the Algoma District School Board for ten years. Orazietti was first elected in 1997 as a City Councillor to represent Ward One in Sault Ste. Marie. He was re-elected in 2000 for a second municipal term, until he was elected as the Provincial Member of Parliament for Sault Ste. Marie on October 2, 2003. He was elected to a second term as the Member of Provincial Parliament for Sault Ste. Marie on October 10, 2007. On October 6, 2011 he was elected to his third term as the Member of Provincial Parliament for Sault. Ste. Marie.

As a former City Councillor, Orazietti served on a number of municipal boards and committees. These boards and committees include: the Public Utilities Commission, the Arena and Pool Steering Committee (John Rhodes Expansion), the Algoma University College Board of Governors, the Ward Boundary Review Committee, the Sault Ste. Marie Teen Centre Committee, the Hospital Redevelopment Joint Committee, the Arena Review Committee (Memorial Gardens), the Council Physician Recruitment Committee, the International Relations Committee and as Chair of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee.

David and his wife Jane have two children, Olivia and Alexander.

Provincial politics

In the provincial election of 2003, Orazietti scored an unexpectedly lopsided victory over Tony Martin, who had represented the Sault Ste. Marie riding since 1990. He is the first Liberal to win election in the provincial seat since 1937, and the first ever MPP from the city's prominent Italian community. Since his election, he has attained passage of a private member's bill reforming the province's Northern Health Travel Grant, and has spearheaded a petition for safety improvements along and eventual four-laning of Highway 17.^[1]

Orazietti has held numerous Parliamentary Assistant roles. On September 27, 2004, Orazietti was named parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Education, Gerard Kennedy. He was then shifted to parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Natural Resources, David Ramsay. From 2007 to 2009, David was named Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Northern Development and Mines Michael Gravelle. February – September 2009, he served as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Education Kathleen Wynne. Orazietti served as the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Natural Resources. In February 2013 he was sworn in as Minister of Natural Resources in Premier Kathleen Wynne's cabinet.

In addition, Orazetti served as Chair of the Northern Liberal Caucus and a member of the Cabinet Committee on Poverty Reduction. Orazetti has served as Chair of the Standing Committee on Justice Policy, as a member of the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs, as a member of the Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly and is currently the Chair of the Standing Committee on General Government.

During the 2007 provincial election, Orazietti won the third highest percentage of the popular vote in the Ontario Liberal Party. He beat the Ontario New Democratic Party candidate by more than 10,000 votes and finished with more than 60% of the popular vote in the riding.

Electoral record

References

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External links

• Official website
• Ontario Legislative Assembly Parliamentarian History